Professional Sports – The Good and the Bad

Chicago, one of the most highly populated metropolitan areas in the country, can also lay claim to being one of the most successful sports cities in the nation, with a rich history in some of the country’s most beloved sports. Athletes often find the city attractive for the nightlife and the excellent homes for sale and IL homes for sale, but certainly not for the infamous Chicago winters. The windy city can perhaps attribute some of their great sports successes to being one of the bigger media markets in the country and therefore a place where people who thrive on being stars and famous can do so. Between their four professional sports teams in the traditional American sports of baseball, basketball, football and hockey the city of Chicago has had a lot to celebrate in the past and could again in the future.

When it was said before that the city of Chicago has had a lot to celebrate in terms of championship successes, it is clear that the words were not written about Chicago Cubs fans. The Cubs are one of the oldest teams in baseball and also have the ignominious distinction of being the longest suffering, having had to wait 106 years and counting since their last championship. Cubs’ fans will lead you to believe that there is some kind of curse on the team, but really it is just that they have had a lot of teams that were not any good. The other baseball team in Chicago located on the south side as opposed to the Cubs north is nicknamed the White Sox and has won a recent World Series and even have President Obama as a fan.

Going from the tragedy that is being a Cubs fan, the grown up version of the animal in football’s Chicago Bears have given the city a little bit more to cheer about. Having recently made a Super Bowl, in what was eventually a losing effort, the Bears also had the honor of being the only team that one of the best running backs of all time Walter Peyton plied his trade for. With Peyton in the backfield and a suffocating defense the Bears won the 1986 Super Bowl and brought celebrations all over the Windy City.

One of the greatest team dynasties ever established in the NBA with the single greatest player of all time leading the way, the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s were the greatest team Chicago has ever had in anything. With Michael Jordan in the jersey and a very strong supporting cast the Bulls were nearly unbeatable. In fact, only a two year absence from Jordan to ludicrously pursue a baseball career stopped the Bulls from winning eight championships in a row, which would have been one of the greatest runs in the history of the sport. Shortly after Jordan’s retirement the Bulls were terrible for a period, until recently when the acquisition of loads young talent has put them back amongst the elite of their Eastern Conference.

Chicago, while some teams have of course been more successful than others, certainly has a claim as one of the top sports cities in the country.